“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2: 5)

What is your life looking like today? Does it look the way you would like? Is it at least moving in the direction that you would like? Moving toward the fulfillment of all the things that would bring you happiness, joy and peace?

The thoughts that we have create our present moments and set the stage for our future. Stop for a moment and think about each thought that you have. We know that thoughts create. We know that what we think about creates our next moment. We know that the thoughts we have today will create our tomorrows. It makes the need for our every thought to be very clear and specific and positive. We are called to be mindful of our thinking, for in our thinking we have the seeds of tiny, but powerful prayers. These prayers set the stage for those things we are open to experience and recognize and these tiny prayers are an indication of our outlook on life.

Imagine that each thought you have is like a bean. Positive thoughts are one color, say white, and negative thoughts are another, let’s say red. As you have each thought another bean is dropped in a large clear cylinder container. What do you suppose would be the dominant color of your container at the end of your typical day? Would it be crimson with negative and defeatist thoughts, or would it be white with thoughts of the healing, rejuvenating and uplifting power of God?

The prevailing belief is that if you want to improve the beauty of your home for resale you should renovate your kitchen and curb appeal. If you want to improve the beauty of your life experience how about renovating your thoughts and beliefs? Sounds simple, but it takes practice and persistence. God will help us as we begin with a simple prayer, “Lord, help me to begin to see a more positive, Christ-centered world in which I live. Help me to experience your presence and your grace in each thing I do and to affirm new possibility in all aspects of my life.” When we begin from a place of positive faith and trust, then, no matter what may happen throughout our day, we will be able to know we are in the presence of a powerful God, who loves us unconditionally.

Affirmation: “Today is a great day to release the past and experience a beautiful NOW. I begin by affirming the amazing presence of Spirit/God right here. Around me, through me, and as me at every moment.”

“Jesus said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease’.” (Mark 5: 34

COMPASSION. As I thought about this word this past week I wondered what all it means in our lives as we move forward. Forward into the unknown, forward into making a difference for justice and peace in our world. Showing a compassionate heart for others and for receiving compassion so that we might model that more fully to a fragmented and hurting world.

God is the definition of compassion, but for compassion to be truly experienced by us, and sent forth to others, it must involve something that gives it action and moves it forward. That something I believe is FAITH.

We all live our lives in this modern world with varying degrees of fear. It would be difficult to not do so. Much of our world is scary and uncertain and much of our world is so unpredictable. Our lives are not always made up of eliminating fear entirely, but of learning to live with it so that we can exist the best that we can with productive, fruitful lives. Living with fear does not mean we accept that those causes of fear define us or that we must always look for that which brings us fear. Living with fear means that we are receptive to noticing those things that are fearful so that we can, by letting God be present in those situations, begin to see what triggers that fear in us in a way that allows us to move through it and into a greater truth of God’s abiding presence.

Degrees of fear may always be a part of our modern world and our human experience, but living a life that is not always coming from a place of fear, but a place of peace and compassion through the grace of God, can begin to change us, and our world, to a place we can really call home.

So, Compassion, lived through Faith, becomes the action that moves us forward to new understanding of God working in our lives. COMPASSION+FAITH=CHANGE. This becomes for us “A Blended Wholeness” and takes all of our experience, our thoughts and our beliefs, and brings them together so that our fears and doubts are diminished. If we think of fear and doubt as darkness, and compassion, faith and trust in God as light, the blending of our experience can begin to move us from one of despair to one of hope and peace. Adding the Light will always remove the darkness. When we add that Light in our minds, (in all of our thinking) with thoughts of God’s strength, courage, peace, comfort, wellness and compassion, we manifest the beautiful change we desire to experience, and our souls have always longed for. It is then that we realize we are living with one another in the true Light of God’s kingdom of heaven lived on earth as it is meant to be lived.

Affirmation: “I flourish in the grace of God and experience a renewed belief that all is well.”

“There in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’” (Revelation 4:1)

So often in life we have the feeling that a door has closed to something that had great meaning for us. As sad as it may seem that this door has closed perhaps that old saying is correct, that when one door closes another one opens. At least that is always our hope. This now closed door can provide us with a time to examine how we view this occurrence. Maybe we are too quick to label it as negative. So, rather than dwell on the fact that this door before us now closed, maybe what has actually occurred is that the first door has closed from the draft of a new door God is swinging open, with new opportunity presenting itself. This new opportunity could very well be one that we would have never recognized if we were too invested in the journey through that original door. That door that has closed could be the best thing that ever happened to us. The draft from this new door opening is something we can affirm begins a new and exciting journey, replete with new opportunities to learn and grow. New corridors are exposed from which we can receive inspiration and insight.

New doors opening are all part of God’s divine ongoing creation. Since we know that we never take our journey of life alone, but that the presence of God/Spirit is always right where we are, we can rest assured that exciting adventures and experiences await us.

“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.” (Luke 2: 10)

Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy. We think of this saying at Christmas time, and good tidings were indeed brought forth with the coming of the Christ child. But I can see these words being proclaimed before much of our sacred scriptures for the stories of Jesus life were indeed great tidings of joy as he walked the earth, touched people with his message of hope and possibility, and healed the hurts and discomforts of a broken world. These words could have also been uttered by the angel at the tomb on that Easter morning, “I bring you good tidings of great joy for Jesus is not dead, but he has risen.” They could be proclaimed as Jesus encountered the blind man and gave him the miracle of sight, or the leper as he restored his life back into society as a man healed of his affliction. Behold, there were great tidings visited upon the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years without hope that she would ever be restored and made whole. Our scripture is telling us, not just on an occasion in December, but always, that we are not to be afraid of life and not to be discouraged by the seeming limits to our humanness. We are to know that whenever we encounter the Christ it is an event of great joy and a life-changing blessing.

I have to wonder, how would our life be different if each morning we started out the day knowing that our ever present and loving God was calling us into a new day by saying, “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy,” and we then went forth knowing God’s perfect peace walked with us, breathed in and through us, and surrounded us throughout our every activity. I think perhaps our expectation and our outlook on life would be quite different.

Behold this day there are good tidings of great joy upon you because wherever you are in life Jesus is also there. Your very heartbeat is a reminder that whatever you experience Christ is there to walk you through, over or around that place and to fill you with a new awareness and greater experience of his divine presence.

Affirmation: “Behold good tidings of great joy abound in my life through the ever present spirit of the Christ right where I am.”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life.

Please join us each Sunday for our SpiritSong service at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA. This Contemporary Celebration and Praise service is an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

Miracles are really neat. I love them and I see them often. I have seen them show up in my life in wonderful ways and as I place my trust and faith in our God who is unlimited, and all powerful, seeing miracles becomes an event that never surprises me, but always uplifts and excites me.

I see miracles in the faces of little children who experience life with seeming effortlessness and without limitation. I marvel at their vision of experiencing each thing they do in life as a precious gift. Each new experience is eye-opening for them and teaches them something new. This is why they love story telling, because something new is about to happen and that something new will propel them to make new and different choices, which in turn will create new experiences. Still more choices, still more experiences, still more miracles.

I think all of us at one time had this wonderful vision of life and excitement for what was going to happen next. That vision of life ahead of us got us to where we are now, but I have to wonder, what happened to our joy and expectation of seeing miracles all around us. As we spent more and more time just trying to get through life, and our daily routines, so often our expectation of God’s miracles soon vanished.

So, I want to ask you today, where do you see miracles? Where do you experience them? How do they show up in your life? Is it when you least expect them? How would you define a miracle?

Please feel free to respond and share your thoughts. I will look forward to your observations and blessings.

“If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting.” (James 1: 5-6)

This powerful scripture about wisdom can open us up to discovering the power of God in our lives in ways we have never before understood.

This Wisdom we seek is not book learning, it is not your SAT score or your IQ. The wisdom we are to seek is the authentic voice of God speaking to us in ways that change us and change our lives. But James also tells us to ask in faith, and never doubt, and that is not the easiest thing for most of us to do. We have all lived our lives surrounded and consumed with doubts, with fears and also with worries. People have let us down and so we doubt. Will God also let us down? We begin to question what we can actually depend upon.

Our doubts can overwhelm us and consume our thinking. Our doubts also cause us to feel a separation from God because we are told we are to have faith and believe. This often causes us to feel trapped in this present moment of doubt, moving no further. But did you know that God also blesses us in our doubts? God understands our doubts and longs to help us walk through those doubts, fears and worries and into renewed life.

I have found that the greatest way to help move through times of doubt is to praise God. Lift up praise to God. When we are praising God we can’t also wallow in our doubts. Our minds and thoughts are on the magnificence of God in our lives. We can’t have two thoughts at the same time, no matter how good we are at multi-tasking. As we continue to offer up praise our focus can shift away from those things that burden us and on to truly hearing God speaking to us, lifting us, ministering to us and bringing us to greater clarity for our lives. That is having Wisdom, hearing and understanding the voice, the presence of God in our lives with all of its fullness. Wisdom is paying attention to God.

Recognize where you have doubts, know that God blesses you in your doubts, be willing to change, letting God walk you through those doubts and then praise God for lifting you into the new life you wish to experience.

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life.

Please join us each Sunday for our SpiritSong service at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA. This Contemporary Celebration and Praise service is an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

It is right that, like the Psalmists, we would send praise to our God for the magnificent blessings we receive. To begin our time of prayer, reflection or meditation by focusing our thoughts on praising the one in whom all things are possible is a powerful way to make our connection with God meaningful. As in all things in our life that which we praise increases in our experience as that is what we are focusing upon. Praise is a powerful form of affirmation that directs our attention and intention to seeing God working in, through, and as our lives.

As we read through the book of Psalms in the Bible words of praise stand out as an ongoing theme. The majesty and glory of God working in our lives, meeting our needs and giving us new hope and a sense of greater possibility, forever speaks to us as a mighty demonstration of Gods great unconditional love. God pours out a blessing upon us in a never ending flow of grace and a continual energy of creative wonder. Even in times of struggle, when we are hurting and life seems to be moving for us in a negative direction, our words of praise to God can help us to lift up from those stressful experiences and see the new light that glows before us.

When we read, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, thou art very great! Thou art clothed with honor and majesty,” (Psalm 104:1) how can we not be stirred by God’s wonderful and powerful presence in our lives. God is always available to us and always anxious for us to connect and have communion together.

I have often said, and written, that we live our lives one thought at a time and that we must let each of those thoughts count for something beautiful in our life. Our thoughts and words of praise to God awaken in us a new truth and a new spirit. Our tomorrow begins right now. It begins with the direction our belief is taking. Praising God, as did the Psalmists, is an effective way in moving us in a new direction to experiencing God’s presence right where we are at this and every moment.

Affirmation: “I will praise the Lord at all times; God’s praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34: 1)

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life.

Please join us each Sunday for our SpiritSong service at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA. This Contemporary Celebration and Praise service is an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

This is certainly not the only time, but it is a great time, to let go of those thoughts and beliefs and no longer serve us or guide us to the fullness of experiencing God in our lives.

God is everywhere present and this presence is fully the same at every point. We as humans so often develop beliefs and thoughts about God and God’s possibility of working in our life that hold us back and prevent the majesty of God from changing our lives for the better. We often think that God is some far away and distant presence that we need to beseech and make deals with in order to feel blessed and loved. God is not a vindictive parent, but a loving, uplifting presence that is always right where you are. You need look no further to find God. God is within you and awaiting your recognition of the Divine Presence.

Letting go of old thoughts of lack, limitation and defeat, or thoughts that we are all alone and God is far away and distant need to be eliminated, or exfoliated, from our thinking. When we affirm a new truth, a greater truth, for ourselves the full power, love, grace, and possibilities of God can be experienced.

Know that you are never alone, for God is always right where you are at every moment, and that you need only look within to find the grace, power, strength, healing, and peace of a God who loves you unconditionally.

Happy New Year.

Affirmation: Today is a new beginning. I experience the presence of Spirit God in new and powerful ways that change my life. I see new possibility as I let go of the old, and let God lead me to the new.

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

“Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37: 4)

Of the many things we can experience, and for which we can be thankful, the one that comes to my mind that encompasses everything, is the presence and unconditional love of God.

It’s wonderful to know that God’s grace is always available to us. It’s comforting. It’s reassuring. It’s peaceful. But it seems to me that if we are to experience God’s grace we need to get on the same wavelength with God. We can recognize God’s grace only through our desire to let God into our lives. The grace is there, we have to stop and align with Spirit. It’s like tuning our radios to a certain frequency. The station we want is out there, it’s broadcasting, but we have to tune to the right signal to hear it. God speaks to us at the level of our willingness to listen. When we have the willingness to listen to God what we find is that God is right there, waiting for us. Grace upon grace, offered unconditionally.

Stop and give thanksgiving to God for being a real, moving, exciting presence in your life. This recognition will also connect you to Divine Spirit in a beautiful and loving way. When we make the connection, when give thanksgiving, our lives move toward the change we have always desired to experience.

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.

“They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season…In all that they do, they prosper.” (Psalm 1:3)

One thing we can count on experiencing is change. So often we think about change as being difficult. If things change we will have to adapt to something new. We are so familiar with things the way that they are that the slightest alteration becomes something that we instantly label as bad, or we dislike. But change is good. Change is the cycle of life, God’s cycle of creation and change means that we are growing to new understandings of God working in our lives.

Think of the trees planted by streams of water. If there was no change then the possibility of their growth and blooming would not exist. If there was no change they would never reach for the stars and prosper.

Change for us can be what we decide to make of it. We can rail against it all we want, but change is still going to take place. The more we resist, the more painful our experience of that change is going to be for us. Change is the essence of possibility for our lives. To grow and to allow God to move through us in new ways that lift us to greater understanding of perfect Spirit creating abundant lives for us can be exciting, if we choose to see it that way. Change is what we find in the gospel of Jesus because the gospel is the essence of spiritual evolution. Theologian and writer Brian McLaren calls this “a perpetual fountain of youthful newness.”

We always see more of what we place our thoughts and beliefs upon. Deciding to embrace change, and see it as God blessing us in new ways, with new possibility for greater expression, will help us to live out what the scripture says “in all that they do, they prosper.”

Affirmation: “God’s Spirit within me is the newness of life that leads me to wonderful new adventures of faithfulness.”

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life. Please join us each Sunday at 5:30 PM in our Social Hall at First Christian Church, North Hollywood, CA for our Contemporary Celebration and Praise service. Come as you are and enjoy an hour of great music from our wonderful band and singers, inspiring messages and good fellowship. Those things in life that you have been seeking have also been seeking you. Now is a good time to receive them. We will lift one another to live exciting, abundant new lives of possibility and purpose.

Also, join me on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 PM for an hour of guided and silent meditation, reflection, affirmation and prayer. As always, we will share communion together. Everyone is welcome. We are an open and affirming congregation.